Part 4: Returning as a Stranger
So Grace stopped trying to enter as family.
She entered as staff.
The catering company hired her for Chloe’s birthday party because they needed extra servers and did not ask many questions.
Grace almost laughed when she saw the assignment.
Lancaster Estate.
Chloe Lancaster’s 22nd Birthday.
The same age Grace would have been when she was supposed to inherit her mother’s trust.
The same night Vivian planned to announce Chloe as the sole future face of the Lancaster Foundation.
The same room where Grace’s name had been buried for sixteen years.
Grace carried trays all evening with the butterfly necklace hidden under her collar and the wrapped box in her apron pocket.
She saw Chloe near the cake, laughing with friends, surrounded by cameras.
For a moment, Grace forgot the cruelty.
She saw only the baby from the photograph.
The little sister she had not watched grow up.
Chloe was beautiful.
Sharp.
Lonely in a way she probably did not recognize.
Vivian stood behind her, one hand always near Chloe’s shoulder, guiding, correcting, controlling.
May you like
Grace noticed that too.
Cruelty is often inherited from the person standing closest.
